New Delhi: For thousands of office-goers who once relied on the Delhi Metro and cab services to reach work in the Lutyens' zone, walking has become the only option, as barricading around Jantar Mantar in response to the ongoing protest continues.
With the metro shut and cab drivers reluctant to enter the cordoned-off stretch, commuters said they are trudging kilometres through bylanes every morning and evening just to get to work or back home.
"Since the metro is shut and police personnel are present in the area, even ride-hailing services are reluctant to accept rides here," a working professional said.
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Thousands of protesters have gathered at Jantar Mantar over the past few days, prompting police to seal off Parliament Street, Tolstoy Road and Jai Singh Marg. A Google Maps check of the stretch on Friday showed a 'heavy traffic' alert across all three major roads.
Officials posted in the area said the closures are for security reasons, given the scale of the demonstration and its proximity to Parliament.
The disruption is not limited to civilians. Commuters said even police personnel posted for duty are having to walk long stretches through bylanes to reach their postings, as the area remains under what many described as a complete traffic lockdown.
The shutdown of metro stations around Connaught Place has made commuting towards east Delhi especially difficult, another office-goer said.
"Yesterday I had to walk till Mandi House metro station, which is 2.2 km from my office. From there I took an auto. It took me an hour and 45 minutes to reach Anand Vihar," he said, describing a commute that would ordinarily take half of that time by metro.
Adding to the difficulty, internet services in the area have remained suspended since clashes broke out between protesters and police on July 20, commuters said, leaving many unable to check real-time traffic updates or book cabs while already on foot.
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Workers in the area said they are inculcating extra walking time into their daily routine and switching to shoes better suited for walking kilometres on the pavement than a desk job -- an unplanned consequence of a protest still playing out barely metres from their offices.
Several metro stations in the central Delhi area have remained closed, as announced by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), for the fourth consecutive day amid the ongoing Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest at Jantar Mantar.
Responding to the closures the Public Transport Forum (PTF), a citizen-led transport initiative, on Friday expressed concern over the disruptions as a response to the protest and demanded that public safety be ensured without shutting down public transport.
